Pages

Friday, January 27, 2012

A local newspaper in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil
illustrated its front-page story on Tuesday with a photomontage of
monkeys groping a woman to depict African and Arab men who had allegedly
gotten into a bar fight. Our Observer, a Congolese student living in
Ternopil, tells us this has deeply upset African students at his
university, who he says are frequently the target of racist attacks.

Nova Ternopil's article explains that police had to
intervene after an African man and an Arab man got into a fight
involving a woman at a local bar on the weekend. The headline reads,
“Arabs and negroes fight over our prostitutes.” The photomontage shows
two monkeys groping a white woman in the foreground. In the background, a
group of black men are sitting around a table, having a drink.
According to our Observer, the men pictured are students at a local
university and had nothing to do with the alleged incident.

We have not yet been able to reach Nova Ternopil's editors for comment. As soon as we do, we will publish it here.

The men circled in red are local university students with no connection to the alleged fight

“Ukrainian students reading the newspaper laughed at the picture”

Beckhs
Love is a Congolese student studying agricultural technology at Ivan
Puluj Technical University in Ternopil. He’s lived there for four years.

I
was in class yesterday when the university’s foreign student advisor
called and told me to come to his office as soon I could. When I got
there, he asked me to close the door behind me. He showed me the
newspaper. I couldn’t believe what I saw on the front page. I was
shocked. First of all, why would a story about a bar fight be on the
front page? You would think that would be reserved for real news.

He asked me if I recognized the men in the background of the photo.
I did – I knew all of them; they are my fellow students. He told me
that this was awful, but that it was a provocation, and asked me to talk
to these students and ask them to stay calm. Because I speak better
Ukrainian than most African students - of which there are about 300 at
our university - I often act as a coordinator between the administration
and the francophone students.

When I told the students in the picture about the article, they
rushed out to the buy the newspaper. It was easy to find. It turned out
the newspaper used an old photo of them for their montage – it was taken
long before this fight allegedly took place. We have no idea how the
newspaper got their hands on it.

Back at the university, we saw other students, Ukrainians, reading
the newspaper. I saw some of them laughing at the picture. I told them,
“You think this is funny? You think this is normal? In a few months,
Ukraine will be hosting the Euro 2012 football championship, which is
going to attract lots of foreigners. You can’t act like you’re in a
Soviet state anymore.”

I really don’t know why they even give visas to African students,
since it’s clear they don’t want us here. I want parents back in Africa
to know they should stop sending their children here. At university,
we’re excluded. In my class, we African students always sit together –
few Ukrainian students will speak to us.

“We live in fear”

Outside university, it’s even worse. I usually go straight home,
because it’s dangerous to be out at night. Black people get insulted and
assaulted all the time. We live in fear. Not long ago, I was coming
back from the supermarket and a group of men just knocked me down and
hit me over and over. They took off when I started to scream. There’s no
point reporting it to the police – the first thing they always say when
an African man walks through the door is, ‘We’re going to deport you.’

Racism is a reality of everyday life in Ukraine. I recently went to
make some photocopies with a Ukrainian student. He asked the store
owner for a stapler; he gave him use of it, free of charge. I went back
by myself the next day; suddenly, I had to pay to use the stapler.

It’s hard for us to defend ourselves, because there’s a real
language barrier for most of us. But I hope we will be able to get a
meeting with the newspaper editor, so he can explain himself.”